Pragmatic competence as a regulator of foreign language speaking proficiency

Abstract

Pragmatic competence is a multifaceted componential construct (Ifantidou & Tzanne, 2012) in the performance of which different underlying sub-skills produce a range of possible effects on learners’ speaking proficiency. In the study we report on, data from 180 Iranian EFL students were collected (90 boys vs. 90 girls), and the Pearson-Product Moment Correlation Coefficient used to test whether and to what degree the macro and micro components of Prutting and Kirchner’s (1987) Pragmatic Protocol correlate with learners’ scores on the speaking component of the IELTS General Training Test, and whether any perceived relationship varies according to gender. Results indicated that the verbal and paralinguistic components of the Protocol correlated significantly with the different tasks that feature in the IELTS speaking test. This, we argue, has implications for language teaching, and in particular stresses the need to foster conditions that allow for the development in learners of a more fine-tuned understanding of the relationship between language and context and the ways in which particular components of pragmatic competence are called upon in the performance of different kinds of communicative tasks.